infos

For the first time, Calella has participated at the Salon Mondial du Tourisme in Paris, held from 15 to 18 March in the French capital. This fair is aimed exclusively for the general public and has the presence of tourist offices, tour operators, travel agencies and accommodation, among others.

Given the increase of the French issuing market over the last three years, the Tourism Department of Calella has considered it interesting to participate, with the aim of increasing the visibility of the destination in an event that last year received 105,000 visitors. Calella has been present at this fair under the umbrella of the Management of Tourism Services of the Diputación de Barcelona, within the Turespaña stand.

This action is part of the promotional strategy of the Calella Tourism, which wants to attract and consolidate the presence of French visitors to the city, and that has been reinforced in recent years with digital marketing campaigns, such as those carried out in 2014 and 2016 at through digital media specialized in French family tourism, such as Notrefamille.com. The results of these campaigns reported an increase in visits from France on the website calellabarcelona.com, which still remains today.

The French tourist profile

The promotional action of Calella at this fair has been focused on increasing and fostering French tourist loyalty in the city. Although in 2016 the occupation of the French market ranked 5th in the ranking of the countries that visit us, with a percentage of 8.66% in 2017 there was a slight decrease (7.73%), a 0, 93% less compared to the previous year.

In the Catalan area, the French market represents 22.4% (-0.8%) of the total number of foreign tourist arrivals. According to the Catalan Tourism Agency, 80% of the expenditure of French tourists in Catalonia is made in the destination. In 2016, its expenditure represented 13.5% of Catalonia's overall tourism expenditure.

In France, school holidays consist of five different periods, including summer and Christmas. The French people take advantage of their vacation time to make family breaks outside of the usual dates (summer, Christmas and Easter). This fact, together with the geographical proximity, contributes to generate flows of visitors throughout the year and favours the deseasonalization of tourism in our territory.

The main motivations of French tourists are climate, cultural resources and gastronomy. There is also an increase of interest in sustainable tourism.

According to the Catalan Tourism Agency, in 2016 77% of French people prepared holidays through the Internet and 49% booked or paid vacations online.

In this sense, the data of the web calellabarcelona.com show an increase of 43% in those users who do it from the mobile. Regarding the demographic data of the visits, the origin is located mainly in the cities of Paris, Lyon and Bordeaux. In relation to the contents most visited by French users, the main highlights are: culture (things to do), shopping, how to get there, the surroundings of Calella, gastronomy and accommodation.